Reading literacy declining, Need for action is growing: Young people are buying fewer books

The effects of the reading crisis are now being felt in the book market: The steadily deteriorating state of reading literacy in Germany is, for the first time, having a clear impact on book sales. The number of book buyers aged 10 to 15 fell by 30.6 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, while spending in this age group dropped by 23.8 percent. Total industry revenue stood at 9.62 billion euros, down 2.7 percent from the previous year. This is shown in the annual book market report “Buchmarkt kompakt 2025/2026”, published today by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association).

Sebastian Guggolz, Chairman of the Börsenverein says: “Decades of neglect in education policy have led to a progressive decline in reading literacy. The result is now clearly reflected in the market figures. These figures must also serve as a wake-up call to policymakers; immediate and consistent measures are needed to improve education and reading literacy. This must become a top priority for the federal government, the states, and local authorities. After all, reading is an intangible infrastructure, as fundamental as roads, power grids, and functioning administrations. Those who can read are also able to understand the perspectives of others, recognize contradictions, make informed decisions, form nuanced opinions, and articulate their own interests. Public life is increasingly organized in the digital sphere, making reading proficiency an even more crucial prerequisite for democratic participation and self-assertion.”

Peter Kraus vom Cleff, Managing Director of the Börsenverein explains: “In addition to the dramatic decline in reading literacy, the weak economy and high consumer uncertainty are causing a drop in turnover in the book market. Last year, the propensity to save in Germany reached its highest level since the 2008 financial and economic crisis. At the same time, excessive bureaucratic requirements are tying up resources within companies. For many bookstores and publishers, this will further increase the high cost pressures they are already facing.”

Action is also needed in the areas of artificial intelligence and support for the cultural sector. According to Peter Kraus vom Cleff: “The next political failure is clearly evident in the handling of generative AI: Although the far-reaching impact on our society of generative artificial intelligence, which is built on large-scale theft of intellectual property, is now well understood, we still lack clear regulations governing AI and urgently needed efforts to improve media literacy across society, particularly among young people. A diverse bookselling and publishing landscape creates space for debate, space that is especially important to protect in times of growing polarisation and division. This also requires appropriate financial support.”

Overview of the figures for 2025/2026

The number of people buying books declined in 2025 by 4.9 percent compared to the previous year. The biggest decline was among consumers aged 10 to 15, where the figure dropped by 30.6 per cent compared to 2024. The 20- to 29-year-old age group has also experienced a substantial decline, with sales falling by 17.8 percent. By comparison, the 16- to 19-year-old group remains relatively stable, posting growth of +7.7%. The decline among younger target groups is also reflected in their spending. Consumers aged 10 to 15 spent 23.8 percent less on books in 2025 than in 2024 while the decline in spending for those aged 20 to 29 was 8.5 percent. Here, too, the 16- to 19-year-old age group has so far escaped the downward trend, recording growth of +6.3 percent.

In 2025, the industry generated a total turnover of 9.62 billion euros (2024: 9.88 billion euros). While the online book trade remained stable, physical bookstores, which remain the largest sales channel for books, suffered losses. Revenue from physical bookstores declined by 3.7 percent to 3.93 billion euros compared to 2024; giving the retail book trade (excluding e-commerce) a 40.8 percent share of total industry turnover. The online book trade, around half of which is attributable to the online stores of physical bookstores, stagnated at 2.5 billion euros for both 2024 and 2025. Thus, the online book trade accounted for 26.1 percent of turnover in the overall market in 2025.  

Most product groups have also been affected by the decline. In 2025, travel books posted a turnover loss of 11.6 percent compared to 2024 as well as companions at 8.1 percent, non-fiction at 4.6 percent and books for children and young adults at 2.4 percent. In contrast, fiction, the largest product group, has held steady and recorded a growth in turnover of 1.2 percent. The popular young adult and new adult genres also increased turnover in 2025: Turnover for young adult titles grew in comparison to the previous year by 4.8 percent and 9.6 percent for new adult titles.  The number of consumers in both genres also increased by 8.8 percent compared to 2024 and 47.5 percent since 2021.

The number of first editions has continued to decline. In 2025, 52,644 new titles were published; 9.8 percent less than in 2024 (58,346). On the one hand, publishing houses are planning more conservatively in unstable times. On the other hand, backlist titles i.e. titles published a year or more before purchase, have meanwhile become a significant revenue driver: More than half of the books sold in 2025, that is 57 percent, were backlist titles.

The number of translations into German went down to 8,465 titles (2024: 8,756). The share of translated titles in all new publications grew due to the decline in the total title production, from 15 to 16.1 percent. In contrast, licence sales declined more significantly in 2025. German publishers sold 6,137 book rights abroad last year, compared to 6,669 contracts in 2024. The key buyers were China, Russia and Spain.

Trade for ebooks settled down at a stable level. With sales unchanged and its share of the consumer market edging up slightly from 6.1 to 6.3 percent, the category saw little overall movement. The picture was very different for audiobooks. Turnover was up in this category by 13.2 percent in 2025 compared to 2024. The digital business continues to drive this growth: Streaming increased by 23.1 percent while downloads grew by 9.2 percent.

Half-year results 2026: The weak consumer climate is also continuing in the current year. After the first six months of 2026, turnover in the central sales channels is down by 4.1 percent compared to the same period in 2024, while sales are down by 4.5 percent.

Sources and further information

The figures on the shares and changes in turnover of the product categories including young and new adult and backlists, as well as the figures on the development of sales and turnover in 2026 are taken from the Media Control retail panel. The development of audiobooks is based on the audiobook monitor of Media Control in cooperation with the audiobook interest group of the Börsenverein. The buyer figures (total consumer market, age groups, young and new adult as well as ebooks and digital audiobooks) and data on the market development of ebooks are taken from the YouGov Consumer Panel Media & Entertainment. The statement on consumers' propensity to save is based on the GfK Consumer Climate powered by NIM for December 2025. All other figures are based on surveys and calculations by the Börsenverein.
Figures and statistics of the 2025 book market will be summarised in the publication "Buch und Buchhandel in Zahlen 2026" (Books and Book Trade in Figures 2026), published by the Börsenverein and released on the 6th of August 2026.

Service

All the current figures on the German book market can be found at www.boersenverein.de/buchmarkt